The Malaysian Insight

HUMAN rights standards in Malaysia has regressed under the former Barisan Nasional regime, a coalition of over 50 human rights pressure groups (Comango) said in a report to the United Nations.

The National Human Rights Action Plan launched by former prime minister Najib Razak three months ago do not address systemic human rights abuses and root causes of inequality in the country, said Comango.

”(The National Human Rights Action Plan) undermines efforts to protect the rights of the Orang Asli, as well as women and girls in Malaysia,” it said in the report launch in Kuala Lumpur today.

Other human rights violations that have characterised the Najib years include the detention of former Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah, banning of books by moderate Muslim groups, abuses of laws such as the Sedition Act and Communication and Multimedia Act to silence government critics, among others.

Comango submitted its report to the UN in March. The government is due to submit its own report on June 30.

The country’s human rights situation will be reviewed by 192 countries in the UN in November.

Malaysia must respond to the countries’ recommendations to improve its human rights standards next April.

Malaysia has also yet to ratify all nine UN human rights treaties and their optional protocols, Comango said.

Under BN, Malaysia has only ratified three international human rights treaties, on the rights of women, children and people with disabilities.

One of Comango’s spokesmen, Angela Kuga Thas, told the press that they hope the new Pakatan Harapan government will pay better attention to particular groups prone to human rights abuses due to their lower social status.

Three UN special rapporteurs who visited Malaysia between 2014 and 2017 had expressed concerns about the vulnerability of girls and women to sex trafficking, exploitation of indigenous people, migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers, people living with mental illness, HIV and AIDS, and LGBTIQ individuals.

The former BN government also rejected five official requests by UN special rapporteurs to review the situation of freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, torture and counter-terrorism in the country since 2013.

Comango said in its report they hope the new government will accept such requests from UN in future.

“A lot of the people in the new government were from the human rights circle.

“We hope they will make human rights education compulsory,” said another spokesman and Suaram executive director Sevan Doraisamy. – June 7, 2018.